Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual text, titled Maṇḍalavidhi-nāma in Sanskrit and Maṇḍala-gyi cho-ga in Tibetan, provides a technical guide for the construction and visualization of a maṇḍala. The text begins with a formal homage to Mañjuśrī and establishes its purpose as a means of pleasing the guru. It frames the ritual through a five-fold conceptual division, starting with the essence and etymology of the maṇḍala. The practitioner is committed to a precise meditative process where specific seed syllables are used as catalysts for visualization. By associating syllables such as caṃ, jaṃ, vaṃ, and maṃ with precious objects—including a horse, wheel, jewel, and treasure—and linking others to celestial bodies and the cosmological structure of Mount Meru and the four continents, the text transforms abstract phonetic elements into a complex sacred geography.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual guide for the construction and visualization of the maṇḍala, the Maṇḍalavidhi is attributed to the Indian author Kamalaśīla. Preserved in the classical Tibetan tradition, the work appears in the Tengyur, volume ཞི, where it comprises three pages and is situated within the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. Under the Tibetan title maṇḍal gyi cho ga, the text enacts a precise meditative process designed to please the guru. It structures its instructions around five aspects: essence, etymology, the method of offering, classifications, and benefits. The practitioner is guided through a complex sacred geography, utilizing seed syllables such as caṃ, jaṃ, vaṃ, and maṃ to visualize precious objects—including a horse, wheel, jewel, and treasure—alongside celestial bodies and the cosmological structure of Mount Meru and the four continents. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to examine the technical intersection of phonetic elements and meditative visualization within the ritual framework of the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras.
The work is significant for its demonstration of the intersection between seed-syllable meditation and cosmological visualization in Indo-Tibetan ritual practice. It illustrates how the practitioner internalizes a macrocosmic map through a structured linguistic and visual protocol.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction
Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, an invocation to Mañjuśrī, and the theoretical framework of the maṇḍala's five aspects.
2
Visualization Protocol
Details the specific seed syllables and the corresponding precious objects, celestial bodies, and cosmological features they generate.
Themes
Seed Syllables and Visualization (2)
Buddhist Cosmology (2)
Guru Devotion (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Maṇḍalavidhi-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Maṇḍala-gyi cho-ga zhes-bya-ba (The Ritual of the Maṇḍala). Homage to Mañjuśrī, the Lion of Speech.
I shall explain the ritual of the maṇḍala, which pleases the guru. There are five aspects of the maṇḍala: its essence, etymology, the method of offering, its classifications, and its benefits.
Regarding the essence, it is that which is worthy of being offered, consisting of both mantra and material substances. "Maṇ" is the seed syllable for generation, and because it increases merit, it is called "ḍala." The method of offering is to please the superior ones through faith, respect, and devotion.
If the maṇḍala is classified, there are two types: the actual and that conceived by the mind. The mental is the mind made serviceable, which is offered through mere recollection. The actual is said to be of four types: the offering, the accomplishment, the worship, and the non-beautiful.
On a suitable ground, whatever possesses the proper dimensions, one should smear it with the mantra: OṂ VAJRA YAKṢA HŪṂ. Twenty items should be arranged: from the syllable HAṂ, one visualizes Mount Meru below. Taking one's own side as the east, from YA one visualizes Pūrvavideha in the east; from RA, Uttarakuru in the north; from LA, Jambudvīpa in the south; from ŚA, Aparagoyānī in the west; and from YA, one visualizes the northeast. Even if one performs the twenty sub-continents, the mantras for the right and left are likewise. From RI, one visualizes the sub-continents of the northwest; from ŚAṂ, the southwest; and from LAṂ, the southeast sub-continents. From CA, the precious queen; from (CHA or TSA), the precious minister; from JA, the precious general; and from VA, the precious elephant.
From caṃ arises the precious supreme horse; from caṃ, the precious wheel; from jaṃ, the precious jewel; from vaṃ, the precious great treasure; and from maṃ, visualize the sun in the east. From a, visualize the moon in the west. From oṃ, Mount Meru, together with the four continents and the sub-continents, the seven precious jewels, the treasures, and the eight [auspicious substances], along with Mount Meru, the sun, and the moon—these are the worthy objects of offering to the Guru, the Three Jewels, the Yidams, and the Ḍākinīs. With the power of faith, I offer them; I pray that the Guru and the Three Jewels accept them.
Regarding the qualities of offering the maṇḍala: by offering a single maṇḍala, one possesses six qualities. The accumulation of merit is inconceivable; therefore, one should apply oneself to it. By offering a single [maṇḍala], one possesses six qualities. Through the quality of offering the four continents, the four Māras will be pacified without exception. Through the quality of offering the sub-continents, one will come to possess the four immeasurables. By offering the seven types of precious jewels, one will obtain the seven riches of the noble ones. Through the quality of offering the great treasures, inexhaustible enjoyments will increase. Through the quality of offering the sun and moon, the view and meditation will become clear in the mind. Through the quality of offering Mount Meru, one will obtain self-arisen primordial wisdom (jñāna).
The ritual for offering the maṇḍala composed by the venerable Kamalaśīla is hereby complete.
Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations, and not in progress there. Translations published elsewhere have not been searched for, so one may exist. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).
Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.